{{Short description|Film production company}} thumb|Title card from opening of All American News '''All-American News''' was a film production company in the U.S. bringing newsreels and entertainment films to African American audiences.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2019/02/all-american-news-the-first-african-american-newsreel/|title=All-American News: The First African American Newsreel | Now See Hear!|date=February 15, 2019|website=blogs.loc.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/national-screening-room/?fa=contributor:all+american+news,+inc|title=Search results from National Screening Room, Available Online, All American News, Inc|first=|last=|website=Library of Congress}}</ref> The first reels were produced in their headquarters in Chicago and premiered in November of 1942.<ref name=":2">https://archive.org/details/motionpictureher149unse/page/n83/mode/2up?view=theater</ref> The newsreels were shown in 150 black theaters from across the country.<ref name=":2" /> They were the first newsreels to ever be produced for black audiences. The intention behind them was to encourage African Americans to join and support the war effort as well as share their perspective on events taking place around the world.<ref>{{Cite web |title=All-American News |url=https://cpl.org/citation/all-american-news/ |access-date=2025-04-23 |website=Cleveland Public Library |language=en-US}}</ref> The films were typically 7 minutes in length and covered several topics with the main focus being progress and achievements of African American service members.<ref>{{Cite web |title=archives.nypl.org -- All-American News moving image collection |url=https://archives.nypl.org/scl/23923 |access-date=2025-04-23 |website=archives.nypl.org}}</ref>
Emmanuel M. Glucksman, a former Universal short subject producer and exhibitor,<ref name=":2" /> lead production for All-American News films for African American audiences.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-nr98005062/|title=Glucksman, E. M. (Emanuel M.) [WorldCat Identities]}}</ref> He was paired with young African American filmmaker William D. Alexander, who worked on the newsreel production team, narrated, and interviewed. Claude Barnett, an experienced journalist also helped produce the films.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0YQvCbc5pBcC&q=claude+Barnett+%22all-american+news%22&pg=PA3|title=Reel Black Talk: A Sourcebook of 50 American Filmmakers|first1=Spencer|last1=Moon|first2=Linda|last2=Allen|date=November 21, 1997|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780313298301|via=Google Books}}</ref> Josh Binney directed some of the films. Some of these films included ''Chicago After Dark'' and ''Lucky Gamblers.''
The Library of Congress has a collection of 35 All-American newsreels and films released from 1942 to 1945.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jenkins |first=Amanda |date=2019-02-15 |title=All-American News: The First African American Newsreel {{!}} Now See Hear! |url=https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2019/02/all-american-news-the-first-african-american-newsreel/ |access-date=2025-04-23 |website=The Library of Congress}}</ref>
== Production == While being headquartered in Chicago, filming was conducted across the United States. Newsreels were filmed with camera crews located and operating in major cities such as Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco. Additional film material was purchased from freelance camera crews in other cities. Printing of the newsreels were handled at the former New York motion film lab, DuArt Film Laboratories, that shut down operations in 2021.<ref name=":2" /><ref>https://www.redsharknews.com/the-end-of-an-era-duart-media-services-closes-its-doors</ref>
==Films==
===Chicago After Dark=== left|thumb|Poster for the film, "Chicago After Dark" '''''Chicago After Dark''''' is a 23 minute American comedy film from 1946. It was directed by Josh Binney.<ref name="bfi">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6ffa32e1|title=Chicago after Dark (1946)|website=BFI}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZGDwDwAAQBAJ&dq=chicago+after+sark+1946&pg=PA106|title=Encyclopedia of American Short Films, 1926-1959|first=Graham|last=Webb|date=July 10, 2020|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476639260 |via=Google Books}}</ref> A poster for the film advertised it as "An All-American Streamlined Feature" with "Lollypop Jones and a cast of all colored stars."<ref name="bfi"/> The Museum of the Moving Image has a lobby card from the film.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-03-21 |title=Museum of the Moving Image - Collection - Collection Spotlight_Race Movies |url=http://www.movingimage.us/collection/racemovies |access-date=2022-06-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321181356/http://www.movingimage.us/collection/racemovies |archive-date=2016-03-21 }}</ref> It was an All-American News production.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sTGSCgAAQBAJ&dq=chicago+after+dark+1946&pg=PA221|title=African American Films Through 1959: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Filmography|first=Larry|last=Richards|date=September 17, 2015|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476610528|via=Google Books}}</ref>
The film is part of the Black Film Center collection at Indiana University.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TQ49DAAAQBAJ&dq=chicago+after+sark+1946&pg=PA203|title=Early Race Filmmaking in America|first=Barbara|last=Lupack|date=May 26, 2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317434252 |via=Google Books}}</ref> In 2000, ''Chicago After Dark'' featured at the Harlem Week Black Film Festival; according to the festival, it was the film's first showing in forty years.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=August 10, 2000 |title=Harlem Week 2000 Black Film Festival |volume=91 |work=New York Amsterdam News |issue=32 |url=http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/3455856 |access-date=2022-07-06 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> The plot description read, "A lady escapes from the 'nut' house in this comedy classic."<ref name=":0" />
Cast *Lollypop Jones * Allen McMillen<ref name=bfi/> * Artie Belle McGinty * Tops & Wilda (Thomas Lee and Wilda Crawford) * Edgar Lewis Morton *James Dunsmore<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/mopic/findaid/blckfilm.html|title=Black Films: Paper Print Collection: Guides & Finding Aids (Motion Picture and Television Reading Room, Libraryof Congress)|website=www.loc.gov}}</ref>
===Lucky Gamblers=== thumb|Poster for the film, "Lucky Gamblers" '''Lucky Gamblers''' is a 1946 American action comedy short film. It was advertised as having an "all-colored cast of stars".<ref>{{cite book |last=Koszarski |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ncQIEAAAQBAJ |title="Keep 'Em in the East": Kazan, Kubrick, and the Postwar New York Film Renaissance |date=2021-07-20 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-55387-2 |pages=117 |language=en}}</ref> It was an All-American News production, directed by Josh Binney.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cmDwDwAAQBAJ&dq=lucky+gamblers+1946+sybio+lewis&pg=PA330|title=Encyclopedia of American Short Films, 1926-1959|first=Graham|last=Webb|date=July 13, 2020|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476681184|via=Google Books}}</ref> The film follows the character of Lollypop Jones' who begins working at the 7-11 club as a waitress when she hears gamblers plotting to take ownership of the club and she steps in to try stop the plot.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lucky Gamblers (1946) - Movie |url=https://www.moviefone.com/movie/lucky-gamblers/E0C9bGW9kwbvxeWzKN4VO2/main/ |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Moviefone |language=en}}</ref>
;Cast *Sybil Lewis (actress) *Lollypop Jones<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last=Sampson |first=Henry T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4n1ZAAAAMAAJ |title=Blacks in Black and White: A Source Book on Black Films |date=1995 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-2605-2 |pages=601 |language=en}}</ref> *J. Augustus Smith<ref name=":1" />
==Filmography== *''The Negro Sailor'' (1945) *''It Happened in Harlem'' (1945) *''Chicago After Dark'' (1946) *''Lucky Gamblers'' (1946) *''Midnight Menace'' (1946) *''Boarding House Blues'' (1948) *''Killer Diller (1948 film)'' (1948) *''The Joint is Jumping'' (1949)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book |last1=Fielding |first1=Raymond |title=The American Newsreel: A Complete History, 1911-1967, 2d ed. |date=2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-0794-8 |page=111 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bCYkCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA111}} *{{cite book |last1=Otfinoski |first1=Steven |title=African Americans in the Visual Arts |date=2014 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-0777-6 |page=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BcWHdpRoDkUC&pg=PA1}} *{{cite book |last1=Wilkman |first1=Jon |title=Screening Reality: How Documentary Filmmakers Reimagined America |date=2020 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-63557-105-9 |page=136 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pJykDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT136}} *[https://archive.org/search.php?query=%22All-American%20News%22 All-American News] at Internet Archive.org *{{cite web |title=New Newsreel |url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpictureher149unse#page/n83/mode/2up |work=Motion Picture Herald |publisher=Quigley Publishing Co. |page=9 |date=November 14, 1942}} *{{cite web |last1=Wiley |first1=Chelsea |title=Watch This Incredible 1945 Video Of A Tuskegee Airman Returning Home To Columbus From World War 2 |url=https://www.columbusnavigator.com/earl-sherard-tuskegee-airman/ |website=Columbus Navigator |date=October 23, 2018}} *{{cite web |title=All-American News To Make Features |url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpictureher165unse#page/n763/mode/2up |work=Motion Picture Herald |publisher=Quigley Publishing Co. |page=40 |date=December 21, 1946}} *{{cite book |last1=Sampson |first1=Henry T. |title=Blacks in Black and White: A Source Book on Black Films |date=1995 |publisher=Scarecrow press |location=Metuchen, N.J. |isbn=0810826054 |page=224 |url=https://archive.org/details/blacksinblackwhi0000samp/mode/2up}}
Category:Propaganda film units Category:Propaganda in the United States Category:Film production companies based in Illinois